Russia's gas games

The Europeans | European news, politics and culture

Katy Lee and Dominic Kraemer

Society & Culture, News

4.8 • 274 Ratings

🗓️ 16 January 2025

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

There's been a weird loophole in the war in Ukraine up until now. Nearly three years after Russia's full-scale invasion, Ukraine was still being paid to transport Russian gas for sale to Europe, all while Moscow continued to kill its people. What does the end of this strange deal mean? This week we ring up energy expert Szymon Kardaś to ask how Putin's regime might seek to use the new situation to his advantage, and to what extent Europe has really managed to wean itself off Russian fossil fuels. We're also talking about the new challenge to Serbia's President Aleksandar Vučić, and whether or not it's a good idea to eat your Christmas tree. Thanks for listening! If you enjoy our podcasts, we'd love it if you'd consider supporting our work in 2025. You can chip in to help us cover the weekly research and production of The Europeans at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/europeanspodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (many currencies are available), or gift a donation to a super fan here. Szymon is a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and an assistant professor at the University of Warsaw. You can read his tweets here. This week's Inspiration Station recommendations: The European Journalism Centre's Journalism Innovation Podcast and 'Beyond the Wall' by Katja Hoyer. Other resources for this episode Ghent city hall's guide to reducing post-holiday waste — now with added disclaimer: https://stad.gent/nl/groen-milieu/nieuws-evenementen/na-de-feestdagen-wat-met-de-restjes#je-kerstboom 'Sweden says Christmas tree needles safe to eat — after Belgian warning'. AFP / France 24, January 8, 2025 https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250108-sweden-says-christmas-tree-needles-safe-to-eat-after-belgian-warning Producers: Morgan Childs and Wojciech Oleksiak Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina 00:22 Polish apple facts, and some amazing news05:05 Bad Week: Aleksandar Vučić17:02 Good week: Adventurous chefs26:44 Interview: Szymon Kardaś on what the Russia-Ukraine gas pipeline shutdown means for Europe42:31 The Inspiration Station: The European Journalism Centre's Journalism Innovation Podcast, and 'Beyond the Wall'46:12 Happy Ending: From Thiberville to Thiberville, with love Bluesky | Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | Mastodon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | [email protected]

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This is the Europeans, and we are back for our latest weekly dive into stuff that's been happening around what is currently a very cold continent.
0:31.6	This is Casey in Paris, and Dominic is away, singing his little heart out.
0:35.9	So I have Keeping Me Company this week, a wonderful producer
0:38.7	in Warsaw. Hi, Vojek. Hi, hello. How are things over there? Well, it's cold. Everyone has COVID.
0:45.8	And yeah, that's the beginning of 2025. Happy New Year. Thank you. I actually wanted to start
0:52.7	this episode by congratulating you and your great nation of Poland.
0:57.1	On the start of your presidency of the EU, you guys are in charge for the next six months.
1:02.1	How does it feel?
1:03.3	Well, it's nice to be in charge for once.
1:05.7	I'm not sure where is this whole heading.
1:07.6	We're seeing a lot of different weird things going on with Polish
1:11.1	government right now. The turn to the right is really drastic. And there's news coming every day
1:18.3	that Donald Tusk said something really right-wing. And it's less and less surprising, but more
1:23.6	and more worrying every day. But I hope that at least some of the key points of the presidency that I've seen
1:28.5	are pretty hopeful, like removing dependency from Singapore, from Russia,
1:33.4	that we're going to discuss later.
1:34.6	Yeah.
1:34.9	So yeah, I hope this is going to be a good one.
1:37.5	I just read that your official logo for the presidency is an apple.
1:42.3	Does Poland have particularly delicious apples? I don't think I've
1:45.1	ever eaten a Polish apple. My gosh, I have to send you some. Yeah, so Poland has produced a lot of
1:50.5	apples since, you know, centuries. And there was this interesting moment where we used to
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in -74 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Katy Lee and Dominic Kraemer, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Katy Lee and Dominic Kraemer and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.